Volkswagen Polo 1.2L GT TSI : Official Review

This is a discussion on Volkswagen Polo 1.2L GT TSI : Official Review within Official New Car Reviews, part of the Team-BHP Reviews category; Seeing the success of the GT Tsi is there a remote chance that VW decides to bring in the Gti ...

If you ask me, they should ramp up the production first for the current model. The waiting periods are going to be at least 4-5 months and this could end up hitting the interest in the vehicle and the sales.

If you ask me, they should ramp up the production first for the current model. The waiting periods are going to be at least 4-5 months and this could end up hitting the interest in the vehicle and the sales.

Waiting period have got nothing to do with the demand for tsi. Its got to do with the surge in demand for the diesel polos, which are choking up the lines. The tsi is still a very low selling unit, and is given less priority.

Bad news for those waiting for their cars. Was at VW dealer this weekend and they showed me a mail from VW Regional Sales Manager South, directing the dealer to inform the potential buyers that the waiting period will range from 5-9 months. He said that he has not received a single car since the launch. People who booked in May have still no got the cars and there is no car coming to him in near future. He even mentioned that he is not taking any new bookings as of now.
This can be very negative for VW. I am not sure how many people will wait so long for the car. I am sure in the meantime other attractive options might pop up and VW may lose some potential customers.

i had the exact same experience yesterday at the bangalore showroom (palace road). lots of lag - it felt like the revs took a while to climb to get to the spool rpm (1500?) and its the first automatic ive driven so i felt a little odd having my left foot do nothing and both hand on the wheel all the time. so i kept it in "manual" most of the way. still, for 9.78 lakhs on road, it felt a tiny bit underwhelming.

You said it - "underwhelming". And even if I buy the argument for a moment that the particular piece was problematic because it was abused, I wonder what are the steps that can abuse the car to deteriorate the performance to this extent. There was no black smoke from the exhaust, so no visible signs of abused turbo...

BTW, the FE shown on the MFD was 8.9kmpl (not in l/100km that I am used to seeing on the Laura), so that's not great either. This Saturday, I got a chance to drive the Laura TSi to Mumbai after a long time and in view of various posts related to the FE of Polo GT, I decided to use this trip as a FE test and here is what I got (I kept resetting trip computer 1 after each section to get a clear picture of how 1.8 TSi was doing on the individual stretches):
- Pashan to Shell Pump, Wakad: 7.8 l/100km
- Shell Wakad to start of the express way: 8l/100km
- Expressway upto Lonavala (steady driving maintaining within 80 to 100kmph): 6.2l/100km
- Lonavala to end of expressway @Kalamboli (steady driving and including the downhill between Lonavala to Khopoli): 5l/100km (did not reset at Lonavala, else pure Lonavala to Kalamboli figure would be even higher)

On the way back, maintaining 80 to 100kmph upto Lonavala (including the uphill between Khopoli and Lonavla): 6.8l/100km.
After Lonavala, I relieved myself and drove "freely" all the way to Pashan, the MFD was showing: 7.5l/100km.

GT has to beat these number by a huge margin, else I am not buying.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sdh

Bad news for those waiting for their cars. Was at VW dealer this weekend and they showed me a mail from VW Regional Sales Manager South, directing the dealer to inform the potential buyers that the waiting period will range from 5-9 months. He said that he has not received a single car since the launch.

No big deal. They will learn their lesson. I hope Punto Abarth comes this Diwali and turns out to be a fast car with good FE .

I think you shouldn't buy the GT if the FE is major concern. Its not the car which is meant to be driven in FE oriented mode. Even if it is capable of giving some decent FE, there is risk that the user ends up driving in spirited mode and ends up spoiling the good FE achieved in last few sedately driven kms

There are plenty of 1.2 ltr options in the market which are capable of giving good FE, atleast better than the GT. If your commuting is too much then you can think about a diesel car like Vento 1.6 TDI, it will be fast yet fuel efficient.

I think you shouldn't buy the GT if the FE is major concern. Its not the car which is meant to be driven in FE oriented mode. Even if it is capable of giving some decent FE, there is risk that the user ends up driving in spirited mode and ends up spoiling the good FE achieved in last few sedately driven kms .

IMO, GT has to beat these numbers because these are numbers achieved by it's big brother, 1.8 TSi. The risk of the user ending up driving the Laura TSi in spirited mode is much higher, and yet it's quite efficient. Do you see my point?

IMO, GT has to beat these numbers because these are numbers achieved by it's big brother, 1.8 TSi. The risk of the user ending up driving the Laura TSi in spirited mode is much higher, and yet it's quite efficient. Do you see my point?

And if it doesn't would you be buying the big brother instead ? If not, there ain't no other option which offers what it offers and for that price.

And if it doesn't would you be buying the big brother instead ? If not, there ain't no other option which offers what it offers and for that price.

I already have the big brother with me for last 3.5 years, 31000 km .
If they plonk the same 1.8 TSi in the GT, I may buy it .

1.8 TSi will be even more efficient in the Polo than in the Laura so it will be a really really fast car with good FE. The current GT is somewhere in between - neither here nor there. (Of course it's way ahead of the the other ridiculous AT hatchbacks in our country).

You said it - "underwhelming". And even if I buy the argument for a moment that the particular piece was problematic because it was abused, I wonder what are the steps that can abuse the car to deteriorate the performance to this extent. There was no black smoke from the exhaust, so no visible signs of abused turbo...

BTW the test car had done about 3000km. And felt like this. Plus there was a sound coming from the suspension (not a rattle, more like a loud , pronounced click) every time it went on a small bump, which I mentioned to the sales person accompanying and she kept denying hearing it but later I did overhear her telling someone else from the showroom to check and fix

I already have the big brother with me for last 3.5 years, 31000 km .
If they plonk the same 1.8 TSi in the GT, I may buy it .

1.8 TSi will be even more efficient in the Polo than in the Laura so it will be a really really fast car with good FE. The current GT is somewhere in between - neither here nor there. (Of course it's way ahead of the the other ridiculous AT hatchbacks in our country).

Long way to go before India gets a 1.8 tsi sorts and for around 10 lacs. The mini is not a bad deal though . Less than what the GT costs - nothing comes close to it and may still be a good idea for the city runs. Probably might give more mileage within the city in our traffic conditions than the laura.

Anand, I don't think its fair to compare the efficiency of an AT with an MT, even though the MT car has a bigger engine and is a heavier car .

I can see where your high expectations from the Polo TSI comes from. The 1.8 TSI in our Laura is one brilliant engine and when the same tech is coming in a smaller package its natural for us to expect it to be quite a bit more efficient.

The 1.8 TSI is paired with the same DQ200 box in the Superb and if you scan through the forum, you will find most Superb AT owners reporting a city fuel efficiency of anywhere from 6 kmpl to 8 kmpl. Polo GT TSI owners seem to be reporting about 11+. Considering most of these figures are coming from new cars, you can only expect this to improve as the engines are run in.

If you compare these figures to the 8 kmpl that I am getting out of my i10 AT , it doesn't seem too bad.

Took the delivery of my GT yesterday. Upsized the tires to 195/55R15 continental CPC2. Steering feels a lot more weighed and the road grip has improved a lot. I had to remind myself very often not to press too much till the initial run-in is over. Would try to come up with an ownership review after a few 100 kms.

Damn Dealer cannot give me a confirmed delivery date anymore (last time he gave me a date of Aug 14th and still nothing). No idea whts going on with the GT production in India! I'm seeing more EcoSports than GTs and that car was launched much much later.. Its not like the GT is a custom car where each piece is customized to owners.. hell it doesn't even have any factory fitted accessories. First time in my life I've booked a car and the dealer is unable to give me a delivery date!! Hell even AUDI gave me a confirmed delivery date on the 'not in stock in India' S4, and promised discounts if they missed.

Its hilarious to see how VW launches an amazing machine and then ****s it up totally with the deliveries.. Now if Fiat took notice and launched the abarth with proper supplychain planning, it'd draw away all the GT customers! Sorry for the rant but had to vent!